History Main / IncrediblyDurableEnemies

-->-- '''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd''' on ''Film/TheTerminator'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaCD

* ''VideoGame/GhostBattle'', a PlatformGame for the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, has basic enemies that take over a dozen shots to kill.

* Likewise, in the more recent ''VideoGame/TerminatorResistance'', T-800 Terminators are outright immune to damage from conventional bullet-firing guns, and even a shotgun at close range does very little besides stun them for a time. That leaves you with explosives and stealth until you can get a phased plasma rifle which is able to hurt them, and even then expect to empty an entire mag into a T-800 to bring it down.
* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal|I}}'': The enemies in Na Pali are at the very least reasonably tough. Mantas and Horseflies, some of the weakest nuisances in the game, will take at least 5 Dispersion Pistol or Automag shots to die, or one Eightball rocket. The weakest [[HumanoidAliens Skaarj]] takes almost 15 Automag bullets before it goes down. The Titan, Warlord, and Queen can all take more Eightball rockets than [[PlayerCharacter Prisoner 849]] can carry (though they have a 30% [[DamageReduction resistance]] to explosives). Even the SniperRifle, powerful as it is, can't one-shot anything beyond a [[GoddamnedBats Pupae]]. The only attack that reliably kills up to mid-tier enemies is a fully ChargedAttack with the [[DifficultButAwesome GES Bio-Rifle]]. Fortunately, most weapons fire decently fast and ammo is everywhere.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}!'' has this in later levels. Most of the Mooks in the first two levels take around 1-2 hits to be killed (two of them take five, one's a rarely-seen DemonicSpider and the other is a HelpfulMook). Then you get to the next four levels, where almost all the regular Mooks take at least three hits to kill.

* Barons of Hell in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' serve as the "boss fight" of Episode 1. They have a whopping ''1000'' HP under their belts, more than twice the next bulkiest demon[[labelnote:who?]]The Cacodemon, with 400 HP.[[/labelnote]] and outdone only by the true boss monsters[[labelnote:list]]The Cyberdemon, with 4000 HP, and the Spiderdemon, with 3000.[[/labelnote]]. Unlike boss monsters, however, Barons have very disproportional durability relative to their actual threat level -- in essence, they're slightly bigger [[TheGoomba Imps]] that throw stronger fireballs at slightly faster speeds -- and tend to severely bog down the game whenever they appear unless you have the rocket launcher, a cell-based weapon, or at least the [[SuperSerum Berserker Pack]]. ''VideoGame/DoomII'' goes out of its way to downplay them by introducing the Super Shotgun as well as a more diverse range of mid-tier enemies, one of which is the Hell Knight -- a palette-swapped Baron with the same moves but half the health -- and reserving Barons for situations where their bulk is actually threatening, such as ambushes or blocking ledges.

* Barons of Hell in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' are serve as the "boss fight" of Episode 1. They have a whopping ''1000'' HP under their belts, more than twice the next bulkiest demon[[labelnote:who?]]The Cacodemon, with 400 HP.[[/labelnote]] and outdone only by the true boss monsters[[labelnote:list]]The Cyberdemon, with 4000 HP, and the Spiderdemon, with 3000.[[/labelnote]]. Unlike boss monsters, however, Barons have very disproportional durability relative to their actual threat level -- in essence, they're slightly bigger [[TheGoomba Imps]] that throw stronger fireballs at slightly faster speeds -- and tend to severely bog down the game whenever they appear unless you have the rocket launcher, a cell-based weapon, or at least [[SuperSerum Berserk]]. ''VideoGame/DoomII'' goes out of its way to downplay them by introducing the Super Shotgun as well as a more diverse range of mid-tier enemies, one of which is the Hell Knight -- a palette-swapped Baron with the same moves but half the health --, and reserving Barons for situations where their bulk is actually threatening, such as ambushes or blocking ledges.

If this is combined with your character being a OneHitPointWonder, [[NintendoHard just put down the controller and walk away]]...

* Barons of Hell in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' are this to the point that a pair of them serve as the "boss fight" of Episode 1. They have a whopping ''1000'' HP under their belts, more than twice the next bulkiest demon and outdone only by boss monsters, and which is way out of proportion relative to their actual threat level since they're otherwise just stronger versions of the Imp, and tend to severely bog down the game whenever they appear since you usually just have the shotgun to deal with them. ''VideoGame/DoomII'' went out of its way to downplay this trope by introducing the Super Shotgun as well as a more diverse range of mid-tier enemies, one of which is the Hell Knight (basically a palette-swapped Baron with the same moves but half the health), and reserving Barons for situations where their bulk is actually threatening such as ambushes or blocking ledges.

* ''[[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIHeroesOfLagaard'': The ''Fafnir Knight'' remake massively inflates everything's HP to offset the absurd damage the MC of story mode -- the titular Fafnir Knight -- deals while in his install form. This ultimately causes a few issues: first, the install requires a full meter bar to enter, meaning it's not a matter of keeping his MP high and can only be used every so often instead of constantly. Second, none of the other classes can keep up with him at all outside of [[EasierThanEasy Picnic difficulty]], making most battles a slog in story mode, or ''all'' battles in classic mode.

[[folder: Mecha Game]]

* The Juggernauts from the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise embody this trope. In a game where a few shots is enough to take down the typical enemy these guys require a ridiculous amount ammo to be poured into them before keeling over. According to the [[http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Juggernaut_%28enemy%29 Call of Duty wiki]] in Mordern Warfare 2 killing them requires "almost 80 rounds of assault rifle fire, at least five Intervention sniper rifle torso shots, around 14 shotgun blasts, or five-six direct hits from a M203 40mm grenade launcher to kill."

* The Juggernauts from the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise embody this trope. In a game where a few shots is enough to take down the typical enemy these guys require a ridiculous amount ammo to be poured into them before keeling over. According to the [[http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Juggernaut_%28enemy%29 Call of Duty wiki]] in Mordern Warefare 2 killing them requires "almost 80 rounds of assault rifle fire, at least five Intervention sniper rifle torso shots, around 14 shotgun blasts, or five-six direct hits from a M203 40mm grenade launcher to kill."

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight'' massively inflates everything's HP to offset the absurd damage the MC of story mode -- the titular Fafnir Knight -- deals while in his install form. This ultimately causes a few issues: first, the install requires a full meter bar to enter, meaning it's not a matter of keeping his MP high and can only be used every so often instead of constantly. Second, none of the other classes can keep up with him at all outside of [[EasierThanEasy Picnic difficulty]], making most battles a slog in story mode, or ''all'' battles in classic mode.

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has the experiments and crab variants of enemies, all of whom have incredibly high HP for their levels. Though it's subverted in that they have nearly zero offensive ''or'' other defensive stats, meaning that while they'll take a lot of punishment, they'll also constantly be taking damage and inflicting none back. This makes them ideal for training.

* Some of the guards in the later levels in ''VideoGame/Goldeneye1997'' and in its spiritual sequel ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' usually carry some sort of body armor or have more health than usual. This can be taken UpToEleven with the unlockable 007 and Perfect Dark difficulty levels by adjusting the enemy health modifier. The default value is 100%, but it can be set to 1000%.

* When you crank up the difficulty in the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' games, this trope is in full effect. In most of the games in the series, it's done to an acceptable degree and the worst of it can be avoided with skillful playing, but ''3'' makes fighting most of the enemies in their SuperMode mandatory and strategically attempting to avoid what triggers them to transform (number of enemies killed, ie. weakening all the enemies next to no health before killing off any of them so you can finish them off quicker when they do transform) only helps to fix the situation to a very minor degree, causing the game to crossover from legitimately challenging to this trope in its worst form.

* There are enemies in the penultimate level of ''VideoGame/EvilDeadAFistfulOfBoomstick'' that are freaking bullet ''sponges'', meaning you'll be heading into the last level with virtually no ammunition - [[GuideDangIt unless you thought to try the flamethrower on them]], which kills them in a second or two.

* The worker/construction infected in ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' attack no differently from common infected, but their safety vests and hardhats act as armor, which makes them a bit more difficult to take down with bullets. Fire and explosions can kill them instantly.

* When you crank up the difficulty in the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' games, this trope is in full effect. In most of the games in the series, it's done to an acceptable degree and the worst of it can be avoided with skillful playing, but ''3'' makes fighting most of the enemies in their SuperMode mandatory and strategically attempting to avoid what triggers them to transform (number of enemies killed, ie. weakening all the enemies next to no health before killing off any of them so you can finish them off quicker when they do transform) only helps to fix the situation to a very minor degree, causing the game to crossover from legimately challenging to this trope in its worst form.

* Certain quests in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' will have specific enemies you have to defeat or subdue, but their HP will be absurdly high unless you use the provided quest item that lowers their HP and attack power.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight'' massively inflates everything's HP to offset the absurd damage the MC of story mode - the titular Fafnir Knight - deals while in his install form. This ultimately causes a few issues: first, the install requires a full meter bar to enter, meaning it's not a matter of keeping his MP high and can only be used every so often instead of constantly. Second, none of the other classes can keep up with him at all outside of [[EasierThanEasy Picnic difficulty]], making most battles a slog in story mode, or ''all'' battles in classic mode.

* Enemies in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'''s Hard difficulty are famous in the fanbase for being sturdier than in most other games, usually requiring at least three hits to bring down and being fast enough that most characters aren't doubling them. The cavaliers in Chapter 4 in particular are tough enough that even Marcus, the game's CrutchCharacter, fails to double and often falls short of being able to kill them in two hits with his best weapon. Later on in the game, a WeaponOfXSlaying or a crit from a Killer weapon is almost required to bring down some enemy types in any kind of timely fashion. Notably, the next games to majorly upgrade enemy stats on Hard Mode (the DS entries) disabled defensive gains for enemies barring HP, ensuring that just about anyone could at least do damage to them.

** ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' has the base-breaking Warzone Firefight mode, where even [[CannonFodder Grunts]] and [[FragileSpeedster Jackals]] take at least half a magazine to take down. And then there's [[MadeOfIron every single Promethean enemy]]...

* ''VideoGame/AlienBreed'': The aliens can take quite a beating for a ZergRush type of mook. You'll be wearing your ammo down before long if you don't get a weapon that can beat them within two hits.
* ''VideoGame/Bioshock1'' significantly ups the health capacity of all enemy types once you get to Arcadia. The basic Leadhead Splicer, which up to that point could be dispatched with a single headshot from the pistol, now takes four headshots to bring down unless you use antipersonnel ammo.
* The [=PS2=]/Xbox FPS ''VideoGame/{{Black}}'' had enemies that took so many rounds to kill that learning to headshot was mandatory ''on the easiest setting''. Perhaps this is the reason all your guns hold [[BottomlessMagazines ridiculous amounts of bullets]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', pretty much all of your enemies become enormous bullet sponges once you enter the True Vault Hunter and Ultimate Vault Hunter Modes. For instance, a Hyperion Surveyor, a small flying MookMedic that doubles as a generic AttackDrone, can be taken down with a few shots from a pistol by a player of the same level in Normal Mode. In True Vault Hunter and Ultimate Vault Hunter Modes, a Surveyor can take as many as five consecutive hits from a sniper rifle to bring down, even by players that outlevel it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}!'' has this in later levels. Most of the Mooks in the first two levels take around 1-2 hits to be killed (two of them take five, one's a rarely-seen DemonicSpider and the other is a HelpfulMook). Then you get to the next four levels, where almost all the regular Mooks take at least three hits to kill.
* The Juggernauts from the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise embody this trope. In a game where a few shots is enough to take down the typical enemy these guys require a ridiculous amount ammo to be poured into them before keeling over. According to the [[http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Juggernaut_%28enemy%29 Call of Duty wiki]] in Mordern Warefare 2 killing them requires "almost 80 rounds of assault rifle fire, at least five Intervention sniper rifle torso shots, around 14 shotgun blasts, or five-six direct hits from a M203 40mm grenade launcher to kill. "

* When you crank up the difficulty in the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' games, this trope is in full effect. In most of the games in the series, it's done to an acceptable degree and the worst of it can be avoided with skillful playing, but ''3'' makes fighting most of the enemies in their SuperMode mandatory and strategically attempting to avoid what triggers them to transform (number of enemies killed, ie. weakening all the enemies next to no health before killing off any of them so you can finish them off quicker when they do transform) only helps to fix the situation to a very minor degree, causing the game to crossover from legimately challenging to this trope in its worst form.
* ''VideoGame/DiabloII'': Unless you have nice equipment, don't expect enemies to drop from a single cast of Meteor, Armageddon, or Fist of the Heavens.
* ''VideoGame/TheDivision'' had this in spades when it first launched. It was a massive point of criticism before the enemies got a time-to-kill adjustment. It still applies to some difficulties, such as Heroic, where every single enemy becomes an EliteMook.
* ''Dungeons and Dragons'' itself does this, but [[LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards only to the players]] and not to nearly the same extent. In fact, it's kind of infamous for [[RocketTagGameplay the exact opposite trope]], though largely due to being tagged with a status effect effectively being instant death.
* Speaking of ''D&D'', a lot of {{MMORPG}}s fall into this, but none are half so bad as ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragonsOnline''. At the early levels, you're trained to think that bad guys will die after 3-5 hits. At the highest levels, it's a whole different mess. Without the best and rarest equipment, it can take 15 to 30 hits WITH the best and rarest equipment just to take a minion down. The harder ones have over 9,000 HP. [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale Literally]].

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight'' massively inflates everything's HP to offset the absurd damage the MC of story mode - the titular Fafnir Knight - deals while in his install form. This ultimately causes a few issues: first, the install requires a full meter bar to enter, meaning it's not a matter of keeping his MP high and can only be used every so often instead of constantly. Second, none of the other classes can keep up with him at all outside of [[EasierThanEasy Picnic difficulty]], making most battles a slog in story mode, or ''all'' battles in classic mode.
* In ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' Incursions, all the enemies have their own unique fleet roles. "Ostingele Tectum" battleships fill this role, being able to survive an ''entire player fleet'' whaling on them for about as long as it takes a single player to kill an ordinary non-Incursion NPC battleship, and noticeably much longer than other Incursion enemies.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''
** A normal human enemy can be expected to survive two or three head shots from a submachine gun without flinching. However, stronger weapons can subvert this -- getting in close with a Combat Shotgun and landing a headshot usually causes LudicrousGibs. Any good headshot on a normal Ghoul, meanwhile, will usually be enough to bring them down. Super Mutants and Deathclaws are justified cases; the former were specifically designed to be superhumanly resilient, and the latter are the apex predators of the Wasteland.
** The DLC ''Point Lookout'' and ''Broken Steel'' added several new and stronger enemies to the game to add extra challenge. ''Point Lookout'' has the Swampfolk, inbred mutants who worship Ug-Qualtoth, Point Lookout Tribals, mostly comprised children of said inbred mutants who "lack the marks", and the Feral Ghoul Reavers who can launch chunks of their bodies like grenades and [[TheAllSeeingAI see you even when you use Stealth Boys or the Chinese Stealth Suit]]. ''Broken Steel'' adds Super Mutant Overlords, gigantic mutants that are on their way to becoming Behemoths and nearly always have the Tri-Beam Laser Rifle, Enclave Hellfire Troops, the EliteMooks of the Enclave equipped with Heavy Incinerators, and Albino Radscorpions that can take as much as they can deal [[FromBadToWorse and heal in sunlight]]. The Swampfolk, Tribals, and Overlords are even harder to kill because [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard their weapons deal additional damage to the player when they and only they use them]].
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'': The basic Locust will tear you apart if you're not in cover. (And even IF you're in cover. You might run out of damn ammo.) It takes almost a full magazine of assault rifle fire to kill just ''one'' of these guys. On Insane, you had to shoot enemies in the head in order to avoid running out of ammunition entirely. [[SequelDifficultyDrop This became much less the case with time]] as the developers admitted the incredibly tough enemies in the first game was a mistake. In Gear of War 1, fighting without using the cover system, even if you were just walking behind the pillar to avoid fire, was suicidal even on the lowest difficulty. By the time ''Gears of War 3'' came around, on normal mode, you had a good chance of survival even if you made liberal usage of [[BayonetYa bayonet charges]].
* ''Ghost Battle'', a PlatformGame for the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, has basic enemies that take over a dozen shots to kill.

* When ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' is set on [[HarderThanHard legendary]], Elites and Brutes can take an unholy amount of damage before their shields burst, and almost as much again to kill them unless you go for the head with a suitable weapon. It is possible to run through dual-wielded SMG clips even when they are fully on target against a red Elite, not even an EliteMook, and still have them survive a follow-up melee attack. And even those pale in comparison with ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}''[='s=] version of Promethean Knights, which even when unshielded can survive multiple headshots.

* Some of the {{Mooks}}, and not just the [[EliteMook elite kind]], in the later stages of ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'', can stand up to truly ridiculous amounts of punishment. Centre-mass shots with a .308 sniper rifle, headshots with a shotgun firing slug, even a 40mm grenade landing by their feet make no difference; they'll be back up and probably at least partially combat-effective by the next turn. And, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard of course,]] ''you'' can never get quite such good results when you equip your mercs with identical body armour.
* The enemies in ''VideoGame/LegendOfLegaia'' generally have HP stats around 75-80% of the player characters' HP, and HealthDamageAsymmetry is not in effect. Often, normal enemies can survive a character's LimitBreak, which can generally be used only every few turns, and take 2-3 rounds to defeat using weaker combos. Mooks lost a lot of staying power in ''Duel Saga'', however.
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'': Some [[BossInMookClothing plot-significant enemies]] take several point-blank shots to drop. The first example [[JustifiedTrope makes some sort of sense]], as when you fight Jack Lupino he's tripping balls on Valkyr, but the others have no such excuse.
* It varies based on where in the series it takes place, but in the course of the ''VideoGame/MechWarrior'' series you'll end up fighting a lot of enemies, sometimes of a vehicular nature (especially in 3 and 4), but most often you'll end up facing enemy 'Mechs. Even the smallest ones seem to be uncannily tough, with even spindly lightweights like the ''Owens'' or ''Osiris'' taking quite a while to bring down by the time the 4th installment comes around.
* Zombies in the 2019 remake of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' are blatant bullet sponges, capable of taking over a dozen or more pistol headshots before they decide to stay down permanently. Not helping is the game's Adaptive Difficulty system, which steadily penalizes the player's damage inflicted if the game feels the player is doing too well.
* All of the enemies in ''VideoGame/RideToHellRetribution'' can take a ridiculous amount of firepower before dying. Headshots are still an instant kill, but the game's janky aiming system makes scoring one much harder than it ought to be. To make matters worse, some enemies have hockey masks that can't be knocked off no matter how many bullets you pour into them, basically forcing you to fight them hand-to-hand unless you want to run out of ammo.
* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has the experiments and crab variants of enemies, all of whom have incredibly high HP for their levels. Though it's subverted in that they have nearly zero offensive ''or'' other defensive stats, meaning that while they'll take a lot of punishment, they'll also constantly be taking damage and inflicting none back. This makes them ideal for training.
* This is one of the many reasons why the ShootEmUp game ''VideoGame/SteelSaviour'' is NintendoHard.
* The opponents in the Cruel Melee version of the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series' MultiMookMelee. Usually the only way to defeat them is to abuse AIBreaker tactics, as actually getting them to a high enough damage to hit them out of bounds is extremely difficult.
* ALL the enemies (save a few) in the ''[[VideoGame/TerminatorSalvationArcade Terminator: Salvation]]'' UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame. Justified, as they are MechaMooks and are ''literally'' MadeOfIron.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' on the hardest difficulty has crabs and rats that can easily finish your character off. When the ''rats'' can kill you off with little difficulty, you know you're playing a hard game. {{Minmaxing}} is the key to success here. Normally though, rats go down in a few hits. The game seems to go up a few magnitudes in difficulty on the hardest setting.
* Many TowerDefense games, especially when it gets to the last few waves. The enemies become from cannon fodder to these.

* ALL the enemies (save a few) in the ''[[VideoGame/TerminatorSalvationArcade Terminator: Salvation]]'' UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame. Justified, as they are MechaMooks and are ''literally'' MadeOfIron.
* Likewise, in the more recent ''VideoGame/TerminatorResistance'', T-800 Terminators are outright immune to damage from conventional bullet-firing guns, and even a shotgun at close range does very little besides stun them for a time. That leaves you with explosives and stealth until you can get a phased plasma rifle which is able to hurt them, and even then expect to empty an entire mag into a T-800 to bring it down.

* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal|I}}'': The enemies in Na Pali are at the very least reasonably tough. Mantas and Horseflies, some of the weakest nuisances in the game, will take at least 5 Dispersion Pistol or Automag shots to die, or one Eightball rocket. The weakest [[HumanoidAliens Skaarj]] takes almost 15 Automag bullets before it goes down. The Titan, Warlord, and Queen can all take more Eightball rockets than [[PlayerCharacter Prisoner 849]] can carry (though they have a 30% [[DamageReduction resistance]] to explosives). Even the SniperRifle, powerful as it is, can't one-shot anything beyond a [[GoddamnedBats Pupae]]. The only attack that reliably kills up to mid-tier enemies is a fully ChargedAttack with the [[DifficultButAwesome GES Bio-Rifle]]. Fortunately, most weapons fire decently fast and ammo is everywhere.

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'': Some [[BossInMookClothing plot-significant enemies]] take several point-blank shots to drop. The first example [[JustifiedTrope makes some sort of sense]], as when you fight Jack Lupino he's tripping balls on Valkyr, but the others have no such excuse.
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'': The basic Locust will tear you apart if you're not in cover. (And even IF you're in cover. You might run out of damn ammo.) It takes almost a full magazine of assault rifle fire to kill just ''one'' of these guys. On Insane, you had to shoot enemies in the head in order to avoid running out of ammunition entirely. [[SequelDifficultyDrop This became much less the case with time]] as the developers admitted the incredibly tough enemies in the first game was a mistake. In Gear of War 1, fighting without using the cover system, even if you were just walking behind the pillar to avoid fire, was suicidal even on the lowest difficulty. By the time ''Gears of War 3'' came around, on normal mode, you had a good chance of survival even if you made liberal usage of [[BayonetYa bayonet charges]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', pretty much all of your enemies become enormous bullet sponges once you enter the True Vault Hunter and Ultimate Vault Hunter Modes. For instance, a Hyperion Surveyor, a small flying MookMedic that doubles as a generic AttackDrone, can be taken down with a few shots from a pistol by a player of the same level in Normal Mode. In True Vault Hunter and Ultimate Vault Hunter Modes, a Surveyor can take as many as five consecutive hits from a sniper rifle to bring down, even by players that outlevel it.

** A normal person can expect to survive two or three head shots from a submachine gun without flinching. However, stronger weapons can subvert this -- getting in close with a Combat Shotgun and landing a headshot usually causes LudicrousGibs. Any good headshot on a normal Ghoul, meanwhile, will usually be enough to bring them down. Super Mutants and Deathclaws are justified cases; the former were specifically designed to be superhumanly resilient, and the latter are the apex predators of the Wasteland.

* When you crank up the difficulty in the ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' games, this trope is in full effect. In most of the games in the series, it's done to an acceptable degree and the worst of it can be avoided with skillful playing, but ''3'' makes fighting most of the enemies in their SuperMode mandatory and strategically attempting to avoid what triggers them to transform (number of enemies killed, ie. weakening all the enemies next to no health before killing off any of them so you can finish them off quicker when they do transform) only helps to fix the situation to a very minor degree, causing the game to crossover from legimately challenging to this trope in its worst form.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' on the hardest difficulty has crabs and rats that can easily finish your character off. When the ''rats'' can kill you off with little difficulty, you know you're playing a hard game. {{Minmaxing}} is the key to success here. Normally though, rats go down in a few hits. The game seems to go up a few magnitudes in difficulty on the hardest setting.
* This is one of the many reasons why the ShootEmUp game ''VideoGame/SteelSaviour'' is NintendoHard.
* There are enemies in the penultimate level of ''VideoGame/EvilDeadAFistfulOfBoomstick'' that are freaking bullet ''sponges'', meaning you'll be heading into the last level with virtually no ammunition - [[GuideDangIt unless you thought to try the flamethrower on them]], which kills them in a second or two.
* Many TowerDefense games, especially when it gets to the last few waves. The enemies become from cannon fodder to these.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}!'' has this in later levels. Most of the Mooks in the first two levels take around 1-2 hits to be killed (two of them take five, one's a rarely-seen DemonicSpider and the other is a HelpfulMook). Then you get to the next four levels, where almost all the regular Mooks take at least three hits to kill.
* The [=PS2=] FPS ''VideoGame/{{Black}}'' had enemies that took so many rounds to kill that learning to headshot was mandatory ''on the easiest setting''. Perhaps this is the reason all your guns hold [[BottomlessMagazines ridiculous amounts of bullets]].

* The Juggernauts from the ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' franchise embody this trope. In a game where a few shots is enough to take down the typical enemy these guys require relentless ammo to be poured into them before keeling over. According to the [[http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Juggernaut_%28enemy%29 Call of Duty wiki]] in Mordern Warefare 2 killing them requires "almost 80 rounds of assault rifle fire, at least five Intervention sniper rifle torso shots, around 14 shotgun blasts, or five-six direct hits from a M203 40mm grenade launcher to kill. "

* Some of the guards in the later levels in ''VideoGame/Goldeneye1997'' and in its spiritual sequel ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'' usually carry some sort of body armor or have more health than usual. This can be taken UpToEleven with the unlockable 007 and Perfect Dark difficulty levels by adjusting the enemy health modifier. The default value is 100%, but it can be set to 1000%.
* Some of the {{Mooks}}, and not just the [[EliteMook elite kind]], in the later stages of ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance 2'', can stand up to truly ridiculous amounts of punishment. Centre-mass shots with a .308 sniper rifle, headshots with a shotgun firing slug, even a 40mm grenade landing by their feet make no difference; they'll be back up and probably at least partially combat-effective by the next turn. And, [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard of course,]] ''you'' can never get quite such good results when you equip your mercs with identical body armour.
* The enemies in ''VideoGame/LegendOfLegaia'' generally have HP stats around 75-80% of the player characters' HP, and HealthDamageAsymmetry is not in effect. Often, normal enemies can survive a character's LimitBreak, which can generally be used only every few turns, and take 2-3 rounds to defeat using weaker combos. Mooks lost a lot of staying power in ''Duel Saga'', however.
* ''VideoGame/AlienBreed'': The aliens can take quite a beating for a ZergRush type of mook. You'll be wearing your ammo down before long if you don't get a weapon that can beat them within two hits.
* Quite a number of mooks in ''VideoGame/DungeonOfTheEndless'' have a lot of health, especially the [[EliteMook elite variants]] fought on later floors. Also justified -- you're supposed to use your [[TowerDefense turrets and modules]] to soften them up for your heroes to kill.
* ''Ghost Battle'', a PlatformGame for the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}}, has basic enemies that take over a dozen shots to kill.
* Zombies in the 2019 remake of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' are blatant bullet sponges, capable of taking over a dozen or more pistol headshots before they decide to stay down permanently. Not helping is the game's Adaptive Difficulty system, which steadily penalizes the player's damage inflicted if the game feels the player is doing too well.
* Some enemies in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' are faintly ridiculous. In particular, the Harald Knights in the ''Ringed City'' DLC for ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'' can take a boatload of punishment before they fall down.
* ''VideoGame/TheDivision'' had this in spades when it first launched. It was a massive point of criticism before the enemies got a time-to-kill adjustment. It still applies to some difficulties, such as Heroic, where every single enemy becomes an EliteMook.
* In ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' Incursions, all the enemies have their own unique fleet roles. "Ostingele Tectum" battleships fill this role, being able to survive an ''entire player fleet'' whaling on them for about as long as it takes a single player to kill an ordinary non-Incursion NPC battleship, and noticeably much longer than other Incursion enemies.
* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey Untold 2: The Fafnir Knight'' massively inflates everything's HP to offset the absurd damage the MC of story mode - the titular Fafnir Knight - deals while in his install form. This ultimately causes a few issues: first, the install requires a full meter bar to enter, meaning it's not a matter of keeping his MP high and can only be used every so often instead of constantly. Second, none of the other classes can keep up with him at all outside of [[EasierThanEasy Picnic difficulty]], making most battles a slog in story mode, or ''all'' battles in classic mode.
* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has the experiments and crab variants of enemies, all of whom have incredibly high HP for their levels. Though it's subverted in that they have nearly zero offensive ''or'' other defensive stats, meaning that while they'll take a lot of punishment, they'll also constantly be taking damage and inflicting none back. This makes them ideal for training.

* By the time of ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', pretty much all of your enemies become enormous bullet sponges once you enter the True Vault Hunter and Ultimate Vault Hunter Modes. For instance, a Hyperion Surveyor, a small flying MookMedic that doubles as a generic AttackDrone, can be taken down with a few shots from a pistol by a player of the same level in Normal Mode. In True Vault Hunter and Ultimate Vault Hunter Modes, a Surveyor can demand as many as five consecutive hits from a sniper rifle to bring down, even by players that outlevel it.